Talk:Grapeshot

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"bone fragments could magnify casualties" ??? Can anybody verify this? It soulds a lot like something somedoy saw in a movie... Oom Kosie 17:07, 28 May 2007 (UTC)[reply]

page should include medieval grapeshot, which was used in catapults. Objects used could be metal, wood, garbage, a dead cat, and the contents of chamber pots, when a castle was under siege they would use anything they could spare in their artillery.

metal slugs roughly the size of grapes
- I think this isn't correct. Each slug of grapeshot for swivel guns is bigger than a grape. --Ypacaraí 05:56, September 2, 2005 (UTC)

Grapes can get very big - but theres no reason why some guns shouldn't have larger shot and it still be called grapeshot. GraemeLeggett 08:08, 2 September 2005 (UTC)[reply]

Gettysburg[edit]

The Battle of Gettysburg was a very famous use of grapeshot. The Union center destroyed Pickett's Charge with grapeshot before it even reached the Union front. Over 6,500 Confederates were killed in the charge by musket and artillery fire. --Excaliburhorn 04:24, 22 May 2007 (UTC)[reply]

Decembrists[edit]

The Decembrist revolt included a very famous use of grapeshot

War at sea[edit]

Was grape ever used in ship cannons? —Preceding unsigned comment added by 96.237.126.237 (talk) 01:45, 4 February 2009 (UTC)[reply]

Blunderbuss[edit]

could grapeshot have been used in a blunderbuss? —Preceding unsigned comment added by 74.178.227.18 (talk) 20:31, 8 June 2009 (UTC)[reply]

It seems implausible. The individual projectiles used in artillery grapeshot rounds were massive solid iron slugs, commonly 5cm in diameter or larger, normally of significantly larger diameter than any small arm's bore. The blunderbuss was commonly loaded with pistol bullets, musket balls, nails, or whatever bits of scrap metal were ready to hand. I suppose it is not impossible that someone could have created an assembly similar to that used to load grapeshot in an artillery piece, using paper or beeswax discs and a stack of pistol bullets or musket balls, wrapping the whole in paper or cloth, to facilitate rapid loading. However, if anyone ever created such a thing and sold it commercially, I have never seen or heard of the practice.

It seems more plausible for use in very large caliber naval blunderbusses, particularly of the mounted, swivel-gun type. There are examples of British Naval blunderbusses with bores of 3 inches or greater, which seem relevant for potentially loading grapeshot, though use of iron shot in general would wear the bore of brass naval blunderbusses a great deal more than lead.

See various examples here from the 1600s and 1700s: https://www.ima-usa.com/collections/british-antique-guns https://www.ima-usa.com/collections/british-antique-guns/products/original-massive-18th-century-british-bronze-barreled-flintlock-blunderbuss-marked-liverpool

The largest caliber iron grapeshot wouldn't work, but smaller examples of iron and lead grape or canister shot probably would. There are examples here of iron balls in the 2 inch range and lead in the 1 to 1.5 inch range: https://www.crt.state.la.us/dataprojects/archaeology/elnuevoconstante/cannons%2C-cannon-balls-and-cannon-shot-2.html — Preceding unsigned comment added by Kool kitty89 (talk • contribs) 04:03, 5 November 2018 (UTC)[reply]

Naval only, or land also?[edit]

The first paragraph of the article implies grapeshot was a naval weapon only, the second discusses the use of grape on land. This needs clarification 96.246.108.108 (talk) 00:24, 22 July 2010 (UTC)[reply]

Seconded. The article's introduction makes a (convinving) point off differentiating grape shot from canister shot. The later list of famous battles then mixes the two up. I think we should clear up this article to reflect the naval munition exclusively. --MattHelm77 (talk) 22:04, 23 January 2011 (UTC)[reply]

The use of grape (also known as canister) shot was relatively rare in naval guns; They were more often used in land canon. A REDDSON

"A grapeshot"?[edit]

Is the term "a grapeshot" correct? I've always simply heard it as "grapeshot", and I see this usage throughout the article, but it opens with "a grapeshot is..." whereas I think it should read "grapeshot is...". The "a grapeshot" phrase also appears in the article on the Battle of Waterloo, which is how I came here. Is there a definitive citation for "a grapeshot"? Jeffr (talk) 14:14, 19 June 2012 (UTC)[reply]

"Scattershot" or sangrenel[edit]

Wasn't "sangrenel" a common 18th and 19th century term for improvised canister shot, often made using nails, stones, or whatever bits of scrap metal were available, to be fired from a smoothbore muzzleloading artillery piece? The article here uses the term "scattershot."